SF Giants pitching staff is quietly showing major improvement in key baserunning stat

Patrick Bailey has thrown out 12 base-stealers in 28 opportunities this season. His 42.9% caught-stealing rate is nearly double the league average rate of 23.7 percent. He deserves a lot of credit for this, but the pitching staff has done a noticeably better job at holding runners on.

SF Giants pitching staff is quietly showing major improvement in key baserunning stat

Here is a bit of an odd scoring observation. In Friday's 2-0 win over the Miami Marlins, Bailey threw out Heriberto Hernandez at first base to record the second out of the first inning. Hernandez looked to be leaning toward second base on a ball in the dirt, but Bailey back-picked to first base to get the out. It was originally ruled a caught stealing by Bailey, but that has since been removed.

Anyways, Bailey has the highest caught-stealing rate among catchers with at least 20 opportunities. While he has not offered much with the bat at all, he has helped quite a bit behind the plate.

Of course, minimizing the running game is more than just having a quick pop time and an accurate arm. The pitching staff can go a long way in curbing aggressive teams on the bases.

Stolen bases are typically off the pitcher. Baserunners are looking at the pitcher's move to decide when to steal. The jump off the pitcher is often what separates a runner from reaching the next base or being thrown out. If the catcher is good behind the plate, it minimizes the margin for error.

That said, if the pitcher is slow to the plate or has a predictable routine, it makes it difficult for even the best catchers to have a chance. That was a problem for the Giants in the first half of last season. The pitching staff was doing a poor job of holding the runners. As a result, Bailey has little chance to throw out would-be base stealers.

The Giants did tighten that up in the second half of last season. This is one of those nuances of the game that is often a reflection of the coaching staff. If this is a problem, they need to identify and work to correct it. To the coaching staff's credit, the Giants did just that.

Within the past year, Baseball Savant has put together a baserunning stat for pitchers to measure how they are managing the running game. For the Giants, they have recorded +5 Net Bases Prevented as a team in 2025, up significantly from the -11 Net Bases Prevented they put up just last season.

What does that mean? With Baseball Savant, positive numbers are a reflection of an above-average trait while negative numbers are a reflection of a below-average trait. What does that mean in terms of limiting base stealers?

The Kansas City Royals' pitching staff leads baseball by a good margin with +19 Net Bases Prevented. They have thrown out eight base runners in 18 opportunities this year. While that number is impressive by itself, the fact that only 18 baserunners have attempted to steal off the Royals this year is a reflection of how well the pitching staff and catching duo are working to minimize those attempts.

The Detroit Tigers are second-best in volume behind the Tigers, allowing only 36 base-stealing opportunities this season. They have thrown out nine runners in that time. For reference, the Giants have allowed 51 base-stealing attempts.

The Giants' pitching staff has done a nice job of giving Patrick Bailey a chance to throw out would-be base stealers. The best approach against the running game is to minimize the number of opportunities, and the Giants are doing pretty well in that category.